


For Phila

by thebirdroads



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:12:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1945896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebirdroads/pseuds/thebirdroads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cordelia seizes an opportunity to avenge her fallen sisters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Phila

**Author's Note:**

> I've never really written a fight scene, so I thought I'd get some practice in on that front. This is the result.

The dance of battle proceeds as normal for Cordelia, and then she sees him. He stands, striking as heroic a pose as he can muster, and directs his troops from what he no doubt assumes is a position of safety. When she lays her eyes on him, time stands still, and the sounds of battle fade to a dull roar. There is nothing that will save him. There are no more cards for him to play. The Mad King dies today, and gods help any who try to stop Cordelia from killing him.

She signals her mount, and she begins clearing a path towards him. Archers ready their bows, only for her to slice them open with the bladed edge of her lance. Swordsmen slash at her pegasus’s legs, only for her to roll and run them through. A mage throws a blast of flame and she rolls out of the way, the heat licking at her face. The mage is too far for her to engage, but he doesn’t notice Gregor barreling down on him like an avalanche. She urges her mount on faster, but a bolt of lightning strikes it. It convulses, and she is thrown into the dirt. 

She staggers to her feet, and sees that the pegasus is unconscious, and singed, but alive. She also notices that there are few soldiers left standing between her and Gangrel. It is at this moment that Gangrel, his Levin sword still glowing from his attack, addresses her.

“Ah, the famed Cordelia of the pegasus knights of Ylisse! Tell me: how fares your noble and august order these days? Gyaaaaahahahaha!”

Cordelia scowls.

“You know godsdamned well how they’re doing, you bastard! And I’m here to make you pay for what you’ve done.”

Gangrel shrieks with laughter. 

“Ah, vengeance! The most classic of motives! The virtuous hero striking down the dastardly villain, and delivering swift justice for his crimes. I do love those stories.”

He levels his sword, so that it is pointing at Cordelia.

“This, however, is not a story, woman. Good so rarely triumphs in the real world.”

He gestures to the few men around him. 

“Away with you! I wish to settle this personally. Don’t hesitate to shoot her in the back if she looks like she might win, though.”

He beckons to Cordelia, and she rapidly closes the distance between them, her lance out in front of her.

They circle, for a moment, searching for any possible openings in the attack. She’s too close for the Levin sword to be used as a magic weapon, as she could kill him dead before he managed to fully raise it, so he must settle for using it as strictly a melee weapon. After a few more moments of this, he lunges, and is easily parried. She takes advantage of the time it takes for him to raise his sword arm again to thrust at him, but he leaps backwards, narrowly avoiding the tip of her lance. As he lands on his feet, he crouches, and springs towards her. She rolls to the side, swinging the lance as she does so, hoping to catch his legs and sweep him off of his feet. He jumps lightly over her swing, and feints towards her head. She detects the feint in time, and successfully avoids the true blow. This continues for a while, until he scores a lucky hit, grazing her shin. She screams and sinks to one knee. He slashes her again, and again, but each cut is superficial at the most. He’s drawing this out, but he doesn’t finish her. 

“You see, my dear? Do you see? Good men do not triumph, because they are WEAK. You faced me in an honorable duel, when you could have killed me by casting your honor aside! And now look at you. Kneeling before me.”

He doesn’t notice her hand slowly inching along her lance, so that her thumb rests where the spearhead meets the shaft.

“You Shepherds are all the same, you and your idiot prince! You think that if you cling to your foolish ideals, you can win! I’ll tell you something, before I kill you. My army is in disarray. Your former exalt’s little stunt showed that the vast majority of my people are ‘good men’ unwilling to do what needs to be done. They have no idea what’s coming. They have no idea what waits just across the sea…but I ramble! Forgive me. The POINT, my dear Cordelia, is that good men will inevitably fail to do the dirty work that is necessary to keep other good men from dying. Evil men are the ones suited to rule. Evil men are the ones who can do what must be done. But enough philosophy. It’s time for you to die.”

Cordelia notices that Gangrel, normally a cackling madman, has grown uncharacteristically somber during this monologue. No matter. As he raises his sword to strike her down, she thrusts her arm forward, burying the full seven inches of her lance blade into his abdomen. 

He exhales, and his eyes bulge slightly.

“Y-You…” he breathes.

She struggles to her feet, and grabs his shoulder with her free hand, to keep him from falling.

“That was for LADY EMMERYN!” she screams, as she pulls her blade, now red with his blood, from abdomen, and stabs him again and again, each stab dedicated to one of her fallen sisters. Even after the seventeenth stab, Gangrel clings, obscenely, to life. Blood stains his breeches, and Cordelia’s hand up to her wrist is red and sticky. She grabs his chin with her other hand and forces him to look her in the eye. 

“This one’s for Phila.”

With a final shout, she punches her lance through his torso, and it bursts from his back in a shower of gore. She pulls it out, and he thumps to the ground below with a cold finality.

It’s over.


End file.
